People's Liberation Army Air Force's J-10B fighter jet is an improved variant of the Chinese J-10A fighter jet. (Photo : www.zpcr.blogspot.com)
The Chinese government is considering plans to export its J-10B fighter equipped with the Russian-built AL31FN-S3 engine to Pakistan and other potential buyers from Asia, Africa and Latin America in the future, according to Kanwa Defense Review, a Canada-based Chinese-language military magazine.
According to the magazine, the mass production of the J-10B fighters was started by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group last year. At least 10 aircraft have been turned over to the Chinese military and undergoing flights tests, while 14 of the jets have already been painted with PLA Air Force markings.
Kanwa said that the PLA Air Force will eventually form a fighter regiment by commissioning 24 J-10Bs before the end of the year.
The J-10B, which was designed as the upgraded version of the J-10 fighter, is the first domestically designed aircraft, which is equipped with a diverter-less supersonic inlet that can shield the engine compressor blades from radar waves.
According to the article, the aircraft's new electronic warfare systems can also be seen in front of the canards and atop the vertical stabilizer and it has an infrared search and track sensors to conduct reconnaissance operations.
Russia is set to release the first batch of the engines this year, as it has agreed to sell advanced AL31FN engines to China to improve the J-10B's power systems. The improvement will increase the life of the aircraft from the J-10A's 500 flight hours to the J-10B's 750 hours.
The report said that China is set to introduce more Russian engines in the future and all J-10B aircraft will be fitted with the AL31FN.
Zhang Zhaozhong, a military expert at the National Defense University (NDU), said in an interview with the China Central Television (CCTV) that the J-10B fighter is 30 percent better than the J-10A fighter in overall performance.
Zhang added that the J-10B has more advantages than the third-generation fighters of China's neighboring countries and the 3.5-generation fighters deployed in the Asia-Pacific region by the U.S.
